Systemwide Events Calendar

Kaulana Nā Wai ʻEhā: Restoring Maui’s Four Great Waters

October 4, 11:45am - 1:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Moot Court Room, Law School

For almost a decade, community groups and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) have been engaged in litigation to restore mauka to makai stream flow to Nā Wai ʻEhā, the four great waters of Maui. For over a century, two sugar plantations drained Waiheʻe, Waiehu, ʻĪao and Waikapū streams dry to irrigate cane. With the closure of one plantation, grassroots groups petitioned the State Water Commission to restore their streams and communities. On August 15, 2012, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court granted the community groups’ and OHA’s appeals and reversed the Water Commission’s final decision in this case. Come and meet two of the lead attorneys and find out what impact this case had on Nā Wai ʻEhā’s streams and communities, the legal protections for traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices, and the future of water litigation in Hawaiʻi nei. Special tribute will be paid to Professor Jon Van Dyke, who represented Maui County in this case.

Speakers: Pamela Bunn - Of Counsel at Alston, Hunt, Floyd and Ing, who represents OHA in Nā Wai ʻEhā related litigation; and Isaac Moriwake - an attorney in the Honolulu office of Earthjustice, who is the lead attorney representing Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā and Maui Tomorrow Foundation.